Export orders grew at the fastest rate in 17 months to US$38.82 billion last month, due largely to a low comparison base and stronger demand for mobile devices ahead of Apple Inc’s new product launch, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Last month’s orders rose 10.6 percent year-on-year, according to the ministry’s latest report. They were also up 2.1 percent from a month earlier.
Growth was mainly driven by orders for electronics, primarily components used to manufacture handsets, which rose 17 percent to US$9.79 billion from a year ago, the ministry said.
Electronics orders grew the most from China and Hong Kong, by US$820 million last month, due to Chinese smartphone vendors launching high-end, but low-priced products, followed by the ASEAN market and the US by US$220 million and US$210 million respectively.
Apple’s orders for its next-generation iPhones were included in the ministry’s tallies for the first time since the beginning of the year, Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞), director of the ministry’s statistics department, told a press conference.
“It’s a good phenomenon that the country’s export orders have continued increasing for five consecutive months year-on-year, which demonstrates that the global economic recovery is progressing firmly and steadily,” Lin said.
“We forecast export orders will continue growing through the second half of the year, driven mainly by demand for Apple’s new products,” she added.
Cumulative orders for the first six months of the year hit a record high of US$220.46 billion, the ministry said.
The ministry’s figures showed that orders for information and communication products — the nation’s top export items — rose 8.8 percent annually to US$10.2 billion last month on replacement demand for PCs after Microsoft Corp ended its support for the Windows XP operating system.
Orders for basic metal and plastic products grew 8.8 percent and 5.5 percent year-on-year to US$2.32 billion and US$2.04 billion respectively last month, because of better macroeconomic conditions and higher steel and crude oil prices.
However, for the 14th consecutive month, orders for precision equipment — Taiwan’s No. 3 export item after electronics — dropped 5.8 percent yearly to US$2.7 billion last month, according to the ministry’s report.
Lin said local panel companies’ export orders did not increase last month because of “severe competition from Chinese and South Korean peers, despite robust demand for smartphones and growing replacement demand for notebooks.”
Meanwhile, a survey by the ministry showed that 59.3 percent of all firms polled forecast orders would flatten out this month from last month, while 20.4 percent forecast an increase and another 20.3 percent projected a sequential decline, the ministry said.
Lin said 56.8 percent of electronics manufacturers and 74 percent of precision equipment makers forecast their exports would increase this month from last month.
Nonetheless, only 47 percent of information and communication product makers forecast their exports would grow, lower than the 50 percent benchmark, because “some companies declined to take our survey, citing uncertainties,” Lin said.
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